Northeastern Finds A Buyer For A Big Chunk Of Its Stock

Northeastern International Airways announced Friday that it has sold 83.1 percent of its stock to JEI Airlines Inc., a Delaware holding company that owns no airline.

Northeastern president Stephen Quinto, who founded the airline in 1981, gave up all his Northeastern stock but received a 45 percent stake in JEI, becoming that company's chief executive officer and largest stockholder, the airline said.

Fort Lauderdale-based Northeastern, once one of the nation's fastest- growing discount airlines, filed in January for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. The airline, which is still looking for financial backing, has since resumed scaled-down service to the Northeast using a single Boeing 727 jet leased from United Airlines.

JEI was established as a construction company in the early 1970s under the name Sparks Industries.

It conducted most of its business in the Las Vegas, Nev., area, said Morton Berger, an attorney representing JEI and Northeastern.

JEI was dormant for about five years, until early 1985.

Several months ago the company changed its name when it attempted to buy a commuter airline in the Virgin Islands, Berger said, but that deal fell through.